


Ashes, Ashes, We All Fall Down

by PolaroidToxins



Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: Flashbacks, M/M, Non-Graphic Rape/Non-Con, Past Rape/Non-con, Period-Typical Homophobia
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-27
Updated: 2019-07-27
Packaged: 2020-07-21 06:09:03
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Rape/Non-Con, Underage
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,873
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19997128
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PolaroidToxins/pseuds/PolaroidToxins
Summary: A conversation with his friends makes Will worry about his past.Or, how being molested by a teacher affects Will later in his life.





	Ashes, Ashes, We All Fall Down

**Author's Note:**

> This fic doesn't include graphic rape but it could still be disturbing, so read at your own risk.
> 
> This takes place a little while before season 1.

Will is focusing so hard on his drawing of a fake superhero that he almost missed the conversation entirely. The bright green cape looks too still for the hero to be flying, but Will doenst know how to fix it. He only looks up when he heard Mike say 'queer', a word Will is entirely too familiar with, but also doesn't understand.

His dad used to call him that when he was still living with them, and the bullies at school do too, but it wasn't like he was about to ask them what it meant. That would just end up with him having a black eye again, so Will just kept his head down and tried not to hear the insults flung at him.

Will keeps his eyes down on his drawing, but he starts listening to Mike after he hears that word, taking in all he was saying.

"I'm serious! My dad said they're queers, he didn't want me around them" Mike said, shrugging his shoulders. From the looks of it Dustin and Lucas weren't buying it. They were all on the couch, controllers for the Atari left forgotten in their laps in favor of talking about whatever Mike had witnessed.

"Why? Are they dangerous or something?" Dustin asked, his mouth full of potato chips. he was never shy about talking with food in his mouth, and all the boys knew by now how to translate his garbled words into an actual sentence.

"I don't know, maybe. My dad said it's a disease, maybe you can catch it?" Mike offered, clearly knowing as little as the rest of them.

Finally, Will piped up. It's just Mike after all. Well, Dustin and Lucas are there too, but they're his friends, they never teased him besides in a playful way.

"What happened?" He asked, trying not to shrink back when all his friends eyes turned to him. He had to stop doing that. 

"Mike saw two guys kissing at the grocery store" Dustin supplied

"Yeah, I still don't buy it, why would they be doing that?" Lucas said, snatching the bag of chips out of Dustin's hands. 

"I don't know! I'm just telling the story" Mike huffed. 

"So... It's a disease that makes you want to kiss other boys?" Will asked slowly. Below the table, Will was gripping his pencil tight, so tight that he was almost worried it would snap.

"I guess." Mike shrugged, picking up his controller again

"How do you think you catch it?" Will asked, though the others didn't seem so interested anymore, he needed to know.

"Probably when one of them kisses you" Lucas snickered, clearly thinking he was the funniest man in the room.

"Well, my dad didn't even want me in the same store as them so maybe it's like a cold, you can catch it from being around them" Mike suggested, eyes firmly locked onto the TV screen.

Will nodded, looking back down at his drawing. Suddenly he was feeling sick, his stomach threatening to bring up all the junk food they had been eating. What his friends had said painted a pretty clear picture in Wills mind, and he was suddenly trying to figure out how to leave without seeming suspicious. Was he asking too many questions? Or behaving weirdly? 

"Lucas! Your Dad is here!" Ms.Wheeler suddenly yelled from the top of the stairs, making all four boys jump slightly.

"Already? Damn it" Lucas mumbled, but stood up none the less.

Then Will jumped up, seeing his opportunity and taking it.

"Do you think your Dad would give me a ride home? I should go too" he said, gathering up his art supplies that were spread across the table 

Lucas agreed, and after some rushed goodbyes and a short drive Will was finally home.

Johnathan must have still been at work, and his mom too, so Will was on his own for the night. Things had been like this a lot recently. The house was quiet and dark, and the first thing Will did was walk to each room, flicking the lights on once. He couldn't leave the lights on anymore after a particularly large electricity bill but he was happy enough just checking that there were no surprises in the dark. 

Once his tour of the house was done Will made himself a sandwich, decidedly _not_ thinking about what had happened at Mike's house.

Once he was finished eating he fed the dog and had a bath, both tasks he accomplished without losing himself to thought. It was only later, when he was tucked into bed and staring up at his ceiling that he couldn't ignore it anymore.

Will Byers was twelve years old. He was years away from thinking about anyone romantically. To him, girls still had cooties and he was happy just hanging out with boys his age for the time being. That wasn't what he was worried about. Will knew he didn't want to kiss anybody, but.. what if he had caught it? What if he had this disease and everyone except him knew? His dad, and the boys at school, what if they were right?

The questions kept him up until long after his brother and his mom had come home. He closed his eyes just long enough to fool his mom into thinking he was sleeping when she came in to check on him, but once the door was shut he was back to staring upwards and hoping he was wrong.

He knew exactly when he would have caught it. There was only one time he had been close to a person like that.

\------

He had been about seven at the time, in the last few months of the first grade before summer vacation. Unlike all the other kids will wasn't looking forward to it. He loved getting up to go to school, he liked learning and drawing and most of all he liked being away from his dad.

His weekends were filled with screaming (his parents) and crying (his own), and Johnathan bleeding when he took yet another beating for Will. 

At school he got to be like every other kid.

It was also the first time Will had a man to look up to. Their teacher.

Mr.Peterson was the first male adult to ever show interest in Wills interests, and he would spend time listening to Will go on and on about anything, encouraging the usually silent boy to talk for as long as he wanted.

Will had never been happier, honestly. He had friends, and an adult who had time for him, things seemed to be looking up, and just like that it all went away.

For the most part, it had been a normal day. It was getting sunnier every day as Summer approached, and their classroom was filled with sunshine from the moment they stepped in to the moment they left. Sometimes it got in Wills eyes, but it was worth it. He had never been a fan of the cold.

Will had been gathering up his things, shoving them into his Looney Tunes themed backpack and slinging it over his shoulder. Mike had been moved to the other side of the room because they had been goofing off too much, so he turned his head in that direction but found Mike was distracted talking to Lucas.

"Will! Can you stay for a moment?" Their teacher called from the front of the room, making wills eyes snap towards him instead. He had smiled, why wouldn't he? He liked spending time with Mr.Peterson.

Mr.Peterson was a young man, unlike most of the teachers at that school who looked like they had been there since the school was built. He was nice and funny and he was always wearing some colorful sweater that Will liked to draw when he got distracted.

Will walked up to his knick-knack covered desk and came around to stand beside Mr.Peterson's chair, smiling up at him. He liked being back there, where only the teacher was meant to be. 

"I wanted to give you something, but I don't want anyone getting jealous so we have to wait for everyone to leave, alright?" The teacher asked, speaking quietly like it was a secret.

Will only grinned wider, nodding and putting his finger up to his lips to indicate he would keep the secret. 

He had waved to Mike and Lucas, and the last kid out shut the door, leaving just Will alone with Mr.Peterson.

"So what is it?" Will had asked impatiently, bouncing on his feet with excitement.

"Close your eyes" and that was all Will needed to know he was getting a gift. He shut his eyes tightly, holding his hands out

"God.." He had heard the teacher mutter under his breath, but at the time he had been so excited that he thought nothing of it. He trusted his teacher without question.

When he felt something hit his palms he curled his fingers around it, opening his eyes to see a bright and colorful pack of crayons. 

"I noticed yours are mostly broken. You can't go around telling the other kids where you got them though, okay?" Mr.Peterson had asked, grinning down at Will

"I won't! I promise! Thank you so much!" Will had practically squealed, jumping up to wrap his arms around the teachers shoulders, pulling him down to his height for a hug.

"Of course, Will" Mr.Peterson had said, and he was smiling but it was tighter than usual. Will had spent a lot of time looking up at Mr.Peterson and he noticed him pressing his lips together, and rubbing his palms against his pants.

"You know.." The teacher started "there's another way you could say thank you" 

And that's as much as Will wanted to remember. What happened after was confusing and scary and it still tied his stomach into knots when he thought about it.

Thankfully, if he _could_ be thankful about this, Jonathan had intervened sooner rather than later.

His brother always waited in the hall for Will to finish up so they could walk home together and apparently he had gotten tired of waiting. After all, being late meant another hour of their dad yelling at them. 

Jonathan had been a whopping eleven years old when he had walked into Will's classroom to see his brother sitting up on the teacher's desk with his pants around his knees. Jonathan was young, but he wasn't stupid, he knew what was happening.

He was simply faster than their teacher, and when Hopper showed up to ask Will what happened and take Mr.Peterson away, the teacher was sporting a broken nose from Will's older brother

Will hadn't really understood what happened until he was a bit older, and once he did he kept it to himself. He never spoke about it to his family or his friends and as far as anyone at school was concerned Mr.Peterson had been fired for stealing from the school.

That had been the end of that, or at least that's what Will had hoped for. 

Now, he could only hope that this wouldn't ruin him for a second time.

**Author's Note:**

> If anyone's interested I might add more chapters. Leave suggestions in the comments if there's anything you'd like to see!
> 
> Thanks for reading!


End file.
